thanks for going through the list to give original titles. i've done a little research to see what's in there that's potentially of interest to me - about five titles, i think. not that difficult to get the japanese text once i know what the film actually is ... ! glad to see sato and hasebe appear in here, and a few or more long-requested titles from those that have developed a more knowledgeable taste in RP.

still not sure i like the selection process and the way they're handled. there seems to be runs of sequels for films which were not certainly of interest to buyers in their earlier titles. could do with trailers in advance, too. surprisingly hard to find people willing to stock them, even with altered titles, for us folk that are buying from abroad - not even amazon listings seem forthcoming any more.

Basically that list contains two kinds of titles: violent pink and "standard" softcore stuff. There are some cool ones from the former category, like Zoom Up: Rape Site, Woman in the Box 2, Rape! 13th Hour, White Rose Campus and Lolita Vibrator Torture. But it's sad the other genres get ignored.

I kinda take credit for bringing Zoom Up: Rape Site to their attention (and I believe I accidentally got Rape! 13th Hour into the release list as well) so I was shy of trying to promote more titles to them. After all, if these bomb, I don't want to be the man who bankrupted Synapse But I do wish they'd explore some of the truly great films from other genres, like Female Delinquent: A Docu-Drama (1977), Rolling on the Road (1981), Crazed Fruit (1981), Delicate Skilful Fingers (1972) etc. Then again, I've been told at my face (well, screen) by web users that my recommendation are shit and those films are shitty artistic snooze fests with too little tits and ass. I guess that's the fundamental problem with a brand called Roman Porno that contains both great art (small minority) and low brow sleaze (great majority) and the latter is the sales point.

Well, I've understood that the first batch sold well, and I'm happy about that even most of those films weren't of great interest to me personally.

2. Rape Ceremony (Kichitaro Negishi, 1980) (genre: youth drama / character study)Despite the crude Nikkatsu title, this is a small masterpiece about two generations of violent young men. It follows a group of young men who is taking revenge against their former idols, who are biker gang members who disbanded under police pressure. A very Art Theatre Guild esque film with great characters, cast, music, and broken chronology.

3. Love Hotel (Shinji Somai, 1985) (genre: character drama)The only Roman Porno by Shinji Somai, who was arguably the best Japanese director of the 1980s. This film features one of the best storylines I have ever seen, and all of the usual Somai trademarks from breathtaking tracking shots to great soundtrack. Yokohama (Mainstream) Film Fest winner: best film, best director, best screenplay (Takashi Ishii), best cinematography, best lead actor and best female newcomer of the year.

4. Rolling on the Road (aka Oh Women! A Dirty Song) (Tatsumi Kumashiro, 1981) (genre: rock sleaze)Kumashiro’s jaw dropping sleaze fest and "true account" of the asshole rocker / movie star Yuya Uchida, played by Uchida himself! The most memorable scene: a sadomasochist nurse is strangling Uchida with a telephone cord during sex while his other girlfriend is crying at the other end of the line.

5. Crazed Fruit (Kichitaro Negishi, 1981) (genre: youth drama / character study)Kichitaro Negishi was bar none one of the best directors who ever worked in Roman Porno. He basically re-invented the 1950s delinquent youth genre. This is a new and superior version of the 1950s classic Crazed Fruit. It's got all of Negishi's trademarks: complex characters, great performances, frequent use of exterior locations, and an energetic audio-visual style that mixes pop songs with hand-held cinematography.

6. Pink Hip Girl (Koyu Ohara, 1977) (genre: youth / pop art)This is one of the cutest, most adorable youth films, and the movie that earned Ohara his reputation as “pop-art director”. It’s a highly entertaining road movie with snowy landscapes, cute girls, great soundtrack, and real chemistry between the two leads. This was a hit among female audiences as well.

7. Retreat through the Wet Wasteland (Yukihiro Sawada, 1973) (genre: cop thriller)Ultra-nihilist police corruption film in which two beast-cops are hunting their former colleague who escaped from a mental institution and could reveal their crimes to the public. Produced as Roman Porno because no mainstream studio dared to touch it. Even Nikkatsu had second thoughts because they thought it was too political and tried to stop the production.

8. Angel Guts: Red Classroom (Chusei Sone, 1979) (genre: psychological drama)Most of the Angel Guts movies are great, but this haunting psychological drama is probably my favourite. Keizo Kanie stars as a photographer who sees an underground rape film and becomes obsessed finding the girl and finding out of the crime was real or staged. Beautiful score, good performances and fine cinematography. The ending is unforgettable. I've excluded the other entries from the list, but High School Co-ed, Nami and Red Vertigo all come highly recommended.

9. Delicate Skilful Fingers (Tooru Murakawa, 1972) (genre: contemporary drama)This film was praised by critics as a movie that turned Roman Porno into respectable youth cinema that captured Nikkatsu's past glory days. Indeed, it's a terrific, stylish film of an innocent young woman who falls in love with a professional pickpocket and discovers a new decadent life. Co-stars cult actor / rock star Ichiro Araki. Screenplay by Tatsumi Kumashiro.

10. Red Violation (Chusei Sone, 1980) (genre: rock / slice of life drama)A great slice of life drama following real life rock-band Devils, played by the real members, including the gaijin member James Hunt in a pretty big role. It's a film that could've been produced by ATG. There's a bit of sex, quite good characters, and tons of great music. It also captures the spirit of the time really nicely. The film ends with a terrific 10 minute scene where the band is composing their new song. One of the best band movies ever made.

11. Beauty’s Exotic Dance: Torture (Noboru Tanaka, 1977) (genre: psychological drama)A haunting psychological drama about the love affair between an artist and a woman who goes through endless physical tortures to make him happy. All set in beautiful snowy landscapes. Probably Tanaka’s best film.

12. Rape! 13th Hour (Yasuharu Hasebe, 1977) (genre: violent pink / thriller)Hasebe’s most outrageous film even turns the violence against men when a serial rapist with a protégé is chased by a homosexual gang. It’s also his slickest thriller, and full of interesting social commentary, even if Hasebe denies such intentions for some reason. William Friedkin later made a film which has an identical ending!

13. Assault! Jack the Ripper (Yasuharu Hasebe, 1976) (genre: violent pink / thriller)The coming of age story of a serial killer. A shy young man finds a passion for slaughtering women, and his girlfriend gets sexual kicks from it. Rarely have sex and death been so close other than in David Cronenberg films.

14. Zoom Up: Rape Apartments (Naosuke Kurosawa, 1980) (genre: pink giallo)This is just about the last thing you'd expect to find in the Roman Porno genre: a pink-giallo. The cinematography and sound design are absolutely stunning and the film features one of the most WTF kills in movie history. Too bad about the excessive sex scenes that slow it down.

15. Midnight Fairy (Noboru Tanaka, 1973) (genre: arthouse)A desperate young man ditched by his girlfriend hooks up with a mentally challenged prostitute. This is a superb arthouse Roman Porno. It's poignant, visually stylish, and features lots of great 1970s footage filmed on location on streets and in small bars. The film also never feels pretentious: it's fun, playful and relatively fast paced.

16. Woman of the Afternoon: Incite! (Nobuyuki Saito, 1979) (genre: genre cocktail)This film is best watched without knowing anything about it. Director Nobuyuki Saito spent most of his career making mediocre and bad films. This one, however, is a fresh, breezy and energetic gem that will take you by a suprise.

17. Erotic Liaisons (Yasuharu Hasebe, 1978) (genre: neo-noir)Here's a very stylish neo-noir based on a novel by the French author Raymond Marlot and produced during the late 1970s when a small amount of Roman Porno films attempted to bridge the gap between mainstream and pink cinema. The storyline and atmosphere are so strikingly European that you constantly forgets the film is set in Tokyo and not Paris.

18. Woman in the Box 2 (Masaru Konuma, 1986) (genre: horror/drama)Generally speaking, I'm no fan of Masaru Konuma's SM films. He has, however, made some good films in other genres. This movie is a small gem: a beautiful, melancholic horror film set on a ski resort. It has a terrific score, too. It's such a unique film in the Roman Porno genre that you don't even realize the villain is actually a pretty standard SM psycho.

19. Wandering Lovers: Dizziness (Masaru Konuma, 1978) (genre: youth drama)An energetic youth film follows two youngsters on the run. The film features superb performances from its two leads who make an adorable couple that you really care about - a real rarity in the genre. It's also stylishly shot, with numerous outdoor scenes set in the early morning add a fresh feel to the film. One of director Konuma's best films.

20. Painful Bliss! Final Twist (Tatsumi Kumashiro, 1977) (genre: WTF / pop art)An absolutely insane mix of yakuzas, transvestites and all kinds of pop-art. If Takashi Miike, Pedro Almodovar and Noboru Tanaka had sex, and somehow gave birth, and the child become a movie director, his movie would probably look much like this...

21. Assault (Yukihiro Sawada, 1976) (genre: violent pink / thriller)Another crime film by the director of Retreat through the Wet Wasteland. This one is a remarkably dark and bleak tale of a husband and wife taken as prisoner by a group criminals on the run. The film was very obviously influenced by Straw Dogs. Although most of it fall short of great, the eight minute climax is a melancholic ballad of violence that rivals the best scenes by Sam Peckinpah and John Woo.

22. Girl's Pleasure: Man Hunting (Toshiya Fujita, 1977) (genre: drama, youth, thriller)Skilfully written and unpredictable character drama about a raped wife, her husband, little sister, and the sister's friend who falls in love with an African American soldier. The shifting focus and the use of unlikely encounters echoes 1990s Tarantino, and the violent ending turns gender roles upside down. The script, by a 25 year old female writer, was discovered via Nikkatsu screenwriting competition.

23. Secret Chronicle: Prostitution Market (Chusei Sone, 1972) (genre: comedy)A very funny, frequently cute, and politically incorrect by modern standards, film about a mentally challenged girl who is sold to a brothel. Her virginity proves surprisingly difficult to steal as she doesn't understand what sex is, and always manages to misunderstand the customers' intentions. The best sequence involves a sumo wrestler trying to catch her – and destroying half of the brothel in the process before knocking himself out.

24. Zoom Up: Rape Site (Koyu Ohara, 1979) (genre: violent pink / thriller)A notorious piece of mean spirited violent pink may not be quite as wild as its reputation, but it's well made smut with a solid thriller structure, some gruesome kills and a pitch black view on humanity. Also, the film's view on women can be summarized with the line "be so kind, rape me again".

25. Secret Honeymoon: Rape Train (genre: romance / thriller)An utterly ridiculous but highly entertaining love story about two robbers and their female hostage on the run. Add “stunts sequences” on the train top, a ridiculous Texas country music soundtrack, and a very cute female lead, and you’ve got a nonsensical, but fun crime film romance.

26. Woman's Trail: Wet Path (Kazunari Takeda, 1980) (genre: drama)Beautifully melancholic film about realistic, likeable and often middle aged characters wandering aimlessly in snowy coastal towns after being abandoned by their loved ones. Director Takeda rarely produced quality, but this is a mature, atypical film that beautifully depicts the passing of time.

27. Secret Chronicle: She-Beast Market (Noboru Tanaka, 1974) (genre: realistic drama)Tanaka's ultra realistic film about a prostitute (Meika Seri) is one of the most exceptional films in the Roman Porno genre, and not only for its striking black & white cinematography.

28. From Orion's Testimony: Formula for Murder (Kichitaro Negishi, 1978) (genre: drama/youth/thriller)Negishi's first film is a youth drama about a young man who writes fictional plans how to murder his father - until the father's new lover wishes to put the plan into action. Negishi's films are always character driven, often breezy, and feature exceptional approaches to sex. In this film the protagonist makes friends with a strange hippie-like girl (Ako) into African music - and their relationship is almost sex free.

29. Girl and the Wooden Horse Torture (Fumihiko Kato, 1982) (genre: noir / drama/ S&M)There are not many S&M films that appeal to me, but this one is of interest. Director Kato helms a very good Takashi Ishii script about a high school girl who is obsessed with her teacher, who has been fired on false rape accusations. The highly visual and nightmarish film is both surprising and character driven. The final scenes may be hard to take for newcomers, but the film feels like an Angel Guts entry with an S&M theme.

30. Trap of Lust (Atsushi Yamatoya, 1973) (genre: action / thriller / WTF)Atsushi Yamatoya, one of the screenwriters on Branded to Kill, and a cult figure on his own, directs this bizarre professional killer / spy film satire that is sometimes considered a remake of Branded to Kill. Entertaining, although sometimes a bit too confident of its own odd appeal.

HungFist wrote:Then again, I've been told at my face (well, screen) by web users that my recommendation are shit and those films are shitty artistic snooze fests with too little tits and ass. I guess that's the fundamental problem with a brand called Roman Porno that contains both great art (small minority) and low brow sleaze (great majority) and the latter is the sales point.

I think that may be a matter of how many of these films one has seen. At least I can say from personal experience that at first even the worst, most plotless S&M flicks seemed like masterpieces to me, just because they were so different from the European and American smut flicks I was accustomed to. But there eventually comes a point where you've seen a hundred of them or more and the incessant bondaging, raping and shitting in paper bags gets just tedious and you inevitably start looking for things other than the rumpy pumpy parts for entertainment. And that's when you discover the art that was smuggled in by the very best directors working in the genre.

HungFist wrote:Then again, I've been told at my face (well, screen) by web users that my recommendation are shit and those films are shitty artistic snooze fests with too little tits and ass. I guess that's the fundamental problem with a brand called Roman Porno that contains both great art (small minority) and low brow sleaze (great majority) and the latter is the sales point.

I think that may be a matter of how many of these films one has seen. At least I can say from personal experience that at first even the worst, most plotless S&M flicks seemed like masterpieces to me, just because they were so different from the European and American smut flicks I was accustomed to. But there eventually comes a point where you've seen a hundred of them or more and the incessant bondaging, raping and shitting in paper bags gets just tedious and you inevitably start looking for things other than the rumpy pumpy parts for entertainment. And that's when you discover the art that was smuggled in by the very best directors working in the genre.

think the first of this type of film i saw wasn't until the 'angel guts' set came from artsmagic, and personally i didn't have trouble seeing the artistic side of it, though i do have that background to some extent - so, not sure it's about how many, but how determined someone is to understand or accept rather than just watch and be entertained in a familiar way.

if there's a skill in spot and identify creative aspects in what's being experienced, even the distractions and additional or failed additional aspects shouldn't stop the good ideas being acknowledged. i have my own issues with RP - apart from only having picked from what's been subbed stateside, as i don't know or understand the d/l fansub sector - but, to me, it's blatantly clear there's value in them quite often, and i do like the ability to accept sex as a legitimate part in many varied stories and concepts, and the freedom given to director's in return for their acceptance of certain constraints, limitations and frequency of production is a great ground for creative solutions and unusual, original ideas.

we do still have something of a culture of expecting certain mixes of sex within films that's dominated by our own western domestic product, and a hefty explicit porn industry that suggests there's no need for a creative or alternative take on how to either portray sex or mix it within different types of story. perhaps we can take dismissal of RP and pink as a sign of a lack of confidence and ability to spot how good ideas arrive in what may initially appear to be the most unlikely of locations.

As usual, they could have done a lot better but all in all that's not a terrible line up. I'm pleased to have so many Takashi Ishii flicks hit BD and DVD for the first time with the ANGEL GUTS series (even if it's just 4 of them), ROUGE and DREAM CRIMES. I want to get excited about RAPE TRAIN but then I remember what happened the first timer Happinet announced it a few years ago. CRAZED FRUIT I will check out on your recommendation.

Have you seen any of the other flicks that are new to DVD? Any of them worth checking out or would they all have been better left in their vaults?

Guro Taku wrote:Have you seen any of the other flicks that are new to DVD? Any of them worth checking out or would they all have been better left in their vaults?

Only Sex Rider: Wet Highway. It's a fun little film. I thought I had posted a review but I can't find it now... well, here goes:

Sex Rider: Wet Highway (Japan, 1972) [VoD] - 3/5An early Roman Porno / Nikkatsu Action hybrid void of any logic. The film follows a lowlife who pretends to be dead after being hit by a female driver. She proceeds to dump his body in a lake, only to have him come to rescue a moment later when she's attacked by a horny hunter. He saves her, kills the assailant, and hits the dead body with a duck. That scene marks the beginning of one of the most nonsensical, yet oddly fascinating psychological road movie character relationships of all time. There is a superb scene with the mismatched couple defying death by speeding down the mountain road while having sex behind the wheel near the end. This, and several other stylish scenes, are inserted into a narrative that is ridiculous more often than not.

This was the first Roman Porno film by Koretsugu Kurahara, a promising young action film director whose mainstream career ended before it had really even begun. Like his colleague Yukihiro Sawada, he never quite seemed to adjust to the new genre and kept making films that drew influence from Nikkatsu's action and youth film era.

Also intriguing is Yumeno Kyuusaku's Girl Hell 夢野久作の少女地獄, which - like CRAZED FRUIT - has only been available on an ancient, long OOP and VHS quality DVD from Uplink before.

As you can see they retitled it as well as the DVD comes under the name 火星の女.

The New York Times review it thusly:

One of pinku eiga starlet Asami Ogawa’s best films, this softcore melodrama from the Nikkatsu studio and the always-interesting Masaru Konuma bears some resemblance to Heavenly Creatures in its exploration of a fantasy world created by two troubled girls. Utae (Ogawa) and Aiko (Yuko Asuka) attend an all-girl private school where the devoutly religious principal (Shoichi Kuwayama) seems to be raping some of the students, including Utae. Aiko is really the principal’s daughter, and was horribly abused by him when she was a child. Or so the audience is led to believe. Eventually, Utae and Aiko kidnap the lecher and viciously torture him in scenes so diabolically Sadean that they could only have come from the pen of Kyusaku Yumeno, author of the well-regarded {-Dogura Magura}. There’s a very nasty abortion scene, self-immolation, and enough psychological weirdness to keep even the most demanding fans of extreme Japanese cinema happy. Hideaki Ezumi co-stars.

HungFist wrote:Basically that list contains two kinds of titles: violent pink and "standard" softcore stuff. There are some cool ones from the former category, like Zoom Up: Rape Site, Woman in the Box 2, Rape! 13th Hour, White Rose Campus and Lolita Vibrator Torture. But it's sad the other genres get ignored.

I kinda take credit for bringing Zoom Up: Rape Site to their attention (and I believe I accidentally got Rape! 13th Hour into the release list as well) so I was shy of trying to promote more titles to them.

i am mostly interested in those violent ones from that list of synapse's things - didn't take long to identify them, and discount the more stereotypical soft ones. i don't know a lot about the detail of the others with the 1000+ run (other than USA discs i've bought) but i would like to know how to identify them, deal with imports from japan and hopefully add SRT files to sub them. any help?

HungFist wrote:I need to write more about Ninja's Mark later when I have time. Let's just say it has a scene where a ninja turns a woman into a fish while she's having sex...

I don't think you ever got around to that, did you? Anyway, I was finally able to catch this on VOD and it really exceeded my expectations. When the above-mentioned scene happened before the 5 minute mark I figured it'd be all downhill from there but it just kept being awesomely insane. It really is something when you go for many years championing a cheap knock-off (Chusei Sone's FEMALE NINJA MAGIC: 100 TRAMPLED FLOWERS in this case) only to then magically discover the big budget masterpiece that clearly inspired it.

HungFist wrote:I need to write more about Ninja's Mark later when I have time. Let's just say it has a scene where a ninja turns a woman into a fish while she's having sex...

I don't think you ever got around to that, did you? Anyway, I was finally able to catch this on VOD and it really exceeded my expectations. When the above-mentioned scene happened before the 5 minute mark I figured it'd be all downhill from there but it just kept being awesomely insane. It really is something when you go for many years championing a cheap knock-off (Chusei Sone's FEMALE NINJA MAGIC: 100 TRAMPLED FLOWERS in this case) only to then magically discover the big budget masterpiece that clearly inspired it.

Glad to hear you liked it.

No, I never got around to writing about it more. I wanted to write a full review but I needed to check Nakajima's kunoichi films first, then too much time passed and nothing came out of it...

HungFist wrote:btw, I took your advice and watched Onsen Suppon Geisha (1972). Not exactly my type of film but I enjoyed it. Silly but fun, high WTF factor, lots of cameos. Since it was a double feature I decided to stay for Onsen Mimizu Geisha (1971) as well, which was weaker but still ok. It was fun to see Reiko Ike acting almost like an idol and running topless on the beach. I recall there being a rumor she was underage when they filmed it, but I'm not sure if it's true. Looking at the dates, they had a few week windown to film and get it ready, which by the standard of that era could just be enough. If she was underage, we're talking about weeks or days.

I don't remember if I have explained this in another thread or not, but here's the thing. She was underage, possibly still 16 when Onsen Mimizu Geisha was filmed. She had lied her age to the filmmakers, and when Suzuki and the producer found out after the filming they panicked and forged her a new birth date May 25, 1953. However, in reality she was born 1954 (likely May or June 25, but I'm not entirely sure).

I don't remember where I read this but I deemed the source reliable as I think it was quoting Suzuki's own statement. Also, Nikkatsu's dvd booklet for Black Panther Bitch M confirms Ike was born 1954. Most sources, however, still refer to the Suzuki-created May 25, 1953. Understandably Toei is not keen on correcting the mistake as she's underage in all her early films (the first 7 to be precise) and they were branding her as "Porno Woman" back then.

HungFist wrote:Thanks to Kemushi I noticed this old post of mine from 2014

HungFist wrote:btw, I took your advice and watched Onsen Suppon Geisha (1972). Not exactly my type of film but I enjoyed it. Silly but fun, high WTF factor, lots of cameos. Since it was a double feature I decided to stay for Onsen Mimizu Geisha (1971) as well, which was weaker but still ok. It was fun to see Reiko Ike acting almost like an idol and running topless on the beach. I recall there being a rumor she was underage when they filmed it, but I'm not sure if it's true. Looking at the dates, they had a few week windown to film and get it ready, which by the standard of that era could just be enough. If she was underage, we're talking about weeks or days.

I don't remember if I have explained this in another thread or not, but here's the thing. She was underage, possibly still 16 when Onsen Mimizu Geisha was filmed. She had lied her age to the filmmakers, and when Suzuki and the producer found out after the filming they panicked and forged her a new birth date May 25, 1953. However, in reality she was born 1954 (likely May or June 25, but I'm not entirely sure).

I don't remember where I read this but I deemed the source reliable as I think it was quoting Suzuki's own statement. Also, Nikkatsu's dvd booklet for Black Panther Bitch M confirms Ike was born 1954. Most sources, however, still refer to the Suzuki-created May 25, 1953. Understandably Toei is not keen on correcting the mistake as she's underage in all her early films (the first 7 to be precise) and they were branding her as "Porno Woman" back then.

Thanks. Yeah, he says there that she was 16 and he and the producer fabricated her a new birth date.

Did you ever run into a more recent picture of her? Both her and Miki Sugimoto became invisible... I heard that they were called/met by Panik House staff in the wake of the production of the "Pinky Violence Collection" boxset to add some comment/insight to the films but they both refused saying that they don't care of their past in movies. That's too bad because after having watched their work in Fukusaku films (Ike) and the ATG films (Sugimoto) they starred in following their pinky violence "career", I can say they both show a certain range as actresses. I would love to read a recent interview by them. In the west actresses with even just one major role (thinking of Tura Satana for instance) became cult icons that widely embraced their fame , while in modern day Japan it seems only Yumiko Katayama and few others are releasing interviews and openly reflecting on their past in cinema: instead Ike and Sugimoto seems feeling "ashamed" of their careers...

Thanks. Yeah, he says there that she was 16 and he and the producer fabricated her a new birth date.

Did you ever run into a more recent picture of her? Both her and Miki Sugimoto became invisible... I heard that they were called/met by Panik House staff in the wake of the production of the "Pinky Violence Collection" boxset to add some comment/insight to the films but they both refused saying that they don't care of their past as actresses. That's too bad because after having watched their work in Fukusaku films (Ike) and the ATG films (Sugimoto) they starred in after their pinky violence "career", I can say they both show a certain range as actresses. I would love to read a recent interview by them.

Sugimoto: I haven't heard anything about her.Ike: She's sort of active still, at least some years ago, but I take my word for it, you don't want to know. Just remember her as she was in the 70s.

As for Miki's acting capabilities, she really surprised me in Preparation for the Festival. That was a fine performance that took everyone by surprise.

Varrick wrote:As for Miki's acting capabilities, she really surprised me in Preparation for the Festival. That was a fine performance that took everyone by surprise.

Yes,she was great and the film is very good... I also enjoyed the first "new battles without honor and humanity" where Reiko portrays very well a woman very different from her usual "Girl Boss" role...